Western Australia Is Basically Future Mars

Image Cache: When you capture Australia at just the right angle, it can look more than foreign — it can look properly alien. That's the end result of these photos from Canon's 'Down Under From Above' aerial photography project, which turn Shark Bay on the WA coast into an orange and teal masterpiece that looks like something out of The Martian.

The World Heritage-listed Shark Bay is responsible for some of the purest salt in the world (...same) but it takes a while to get there. Seven hours' drive north from Perth, Canon says, then hang a left and keep going for another two until you hit the coast. Then you're smack bang in the middle of the heritage area, at a little town called Useless Loop.

70 square kilometres of evaporation ponds at Useless Loop produce 1.4 million tonnes of the highest quality salt every year, and Canon alumni photographer Peter Franc traveled to the area to photograph its remote alien beauty. From a rented Cessna 206 with no side door, Franc captured these stunning shots on Canon gear.

The landscape looks like Mars, 100 years into the future — water, a few scarce buildings, and a whole lot of red dust. We're still playing Where's Mark Watney on these photos — if you see him, let us know. [Canon]

The Leslie Salt flats near Port Hedland are also amazing. Can be quite frightening when flying in to Hedland and you have been sleeping the whole journey as the plane banks near the salt flats. If you are on the right side, the first view of the flats after awakening can have you believe you are on Mars.

Every once and a while, we get the chance to peek into an alternate timeline and see how things could have played out if a single decision had gone a different way. And with the new Nokia 8, that's exactly what we're getting.